


I lived here I loved here (I thought it was true)

by spiromachia



Series: Dream SMP AUs and Cannon Divergence [4]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Dave | Technoblade and Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are Siblings, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sad TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, TommyInnit Swears (Video Blogging RPF), but theyre only mentioned, tommy goes back in time to before the duel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27668561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiromachia/pseuds/spiromachia
Summary: (CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE DREAM SMP NOV 16 WAR)The rest of the group grimaced at the implications, but Tommy was already moving, back into the caravan, where he rummaged through his chest of things, everything laid out exactly like he remembered it."What are we going to do now?" Tubbo held his fist to his heart.The blond turned around, enchanted bow held tightly in his grasp, burning and glowing. He grinned."I don't know about you, but I'm going to speed run a rebellion."Or...Tommy wakes up in the past and decides to change the future.(Title from Rät by Penelope Scott)
Relationships: Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Minor or Background Relationship(s), No Romantic Relationship(s), Tommyinnit & Wilbur Soot, if you ship irl people dont talk to me
Series: Dream SMP AUs and Cannon Divergence [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149863
Comments: 80
Kudos: 1695
Collections: Bunch of fics I'll keep reading forever!!!, Completed stories I've read, Found family to make me feel something, Lemon's Time Travel fic Bin





	I lived here I loved here (I thought it was true)

"Do you wanna be a hero, Tommy?"

"Technoblade, don't do this-"

"Do you wanna be a hero?!- Then _die like one_!!"

)()()(

Tommy woke up with a scream, crying out in pure agony, still feeling the scorching sensation coursing through his chest. Everything felt like it was on fire, his lungs still felt like they were filled with smoke, closing his throat and causing his eyes to water and burn. It hadn't taken many fireworks to kill him, a couple of blasts to the chest and he was done. He really stood no chance against both Technoblade _and_ the Withers, which were slowly draining his health.

Was this how Tubbo felt?

He brought a hand to the bandana that usually wrapped itself around his neck like a token, the green always reminding him of his friend on the other side of the war, only to find that it wasn't there. That brought him back to reality, as he all but clawed at his throat, trying to find where it had gone. Had he dropped it somewhere? He couldn't have lost it, right? He patted his body down, only to find his iconic red and white cotton shirt had been replaced with familiar navy blue, frills and buttons decorating the L'manberg uniform. He brought a hand up to his hair, feeling that it was longer and fluffier than before. Hadn't he cut it? What the hell was going on? What was happening? Where was he?

He was halfway out of bed, long since used to ignoring the intense pain that inevitably came after a respawn, when someone came crashing through the door of his room, worry etched into their features. Brown hair fell in a mop over his head, the back tucked into a black beanie and eyes blown wide.

"Tommy!"

"Wilbur?"

The boy hardly had any time to process that Wilbur was wearing L'manberg uniform too before he was basically on top of him, checking him over, cupping his face in his hand with gentle kindness that Tommy hadn't felt in weeks. He instinctively leaned away from the touch, causing the man to frown.

"Tommy what happened?"

"I- I... Wil?" Tommy sat in shock, the memories of the rebellion were suddenly fresh in his mind.

Schlatt was gone.

Tubbo became the president.

Techno killed Tubbo.

Wilbur blew up L'manberg.

Techno summoned Withers.

Tommy... Techno killed Tommy.

His eyes widened in realisation, pulling himself out of Wilbur's arms, who yelled in protest, and shoving past him, through the caravan and out into the open air, gasping and coughing as the implications struck him.

That was his last respawn.

He was dead. This- this had to be an afterlife of some sort. Some sick purgatory where he'd have to watch himself lose everything over and over again, watch his brother lose his mind slowly but surely, descending deeper into madness, watch the light from Tubbo's eyes drain as he stood by the new president's side, wearing a business suit and tie instead of his normal, loose, green shirt, watch as Technoblade killed his friends without remorse, laughing and cackling at the destruction and bloodshed, forced to watch as he lost everything over and over and over again. 

He didn't know if he could take that.

There was a gentle hand pressed against his shoulder, rubbing soothing circles along his back, someone was muttering calming words but Tommy couldn't hear them over the ringing in his ears. Other figures began to appear, each of them talking over each other, all of their words jumbling together into an incoherent mess. He gasped for breath but couldn't seem to get any.

"Tommy- Tommy breathe. Look at me- Tommy," slowly, the boy looked up. Brown eyes met blue. He felt a hand grab his wrist and pull his hand up to their chest, "Copy my breathing, Tommy. In for five, hold... out for five. There you go..."

He tried to follow the instructions to the best of his abilities but it was difficult, his chest kept stuttering and his lungs kept contorting, causing him to cough and choke on the imaginary soot.

He didn't know how long it took for him to calm down, but it had to have been a long time, as when he looked back up, the little gang of people had settled into the grass around him, looking at him with worried eyes. He recognised every single one of them, all wearing L'manberg uniforms. Tubbo, Fundy, Eret and Wilbur, the latter of whom released Tommy's wrists and pulled back, a gentle smile on his face.

That was never good.

If there was one thing that Tommy had learnt about Wilbur in recent weeks, it was that if he smiled in genuine kindness, something bad was going to happen. It meant he wanted something.

"Where am I- Wi-Wil, I don't know what's going- what's happening?" he hated out childish he sounded, his voice seemed higher pitched than he remembered.

"You're in L'manberg, Tommy. You're safe," Wilbur placed a gentle hand on Tommy's shoulder only to retract it slightly when the boy flinched away, "You're safe Toms. The walls will protect us. Nothing can hurt you here."

Walls?

Tommy looked around him, only to spot grand walls in the distance, towering and dark, the blackstone almost shielding the sun from entering the country. In the distance, a red, white and blue flag waved in the wind.

What the fuck was happening?

"What's the last thing you remember?" a deep calming voice asked, and Tommy turned to see Eret. He looked strange without his royal crown and cape, "Maybe we can retrace our steps."

"I-" Tommy glanced back at the caravan, not blown up. That's couldn't be happening. He'd literally just watched it blow up! "I just- I just remember... No... no. This isn't right."

"What isn't right?" Tubbo asked, a confused smile on his face.

"This... I- The last thing I remember is... everything was gone and I-" Tommy choked on his words, "It was all gone..."

"Oh Tommy..." Wilbur's features softened, "You had a nightmare, didn't you. I know this must be so stressful for you but-"

"It wasn't a nightmare," Tommy cut him off, "It wasn't. There's no way it was a dream I- This doesn't make sense!"

"Tommy," Tubbo spoke calmingly, placing his hand over his friend's, "It can't have been anything but a dream. We're here now, aren't we?"

The boy stared off, looking but not seeing, his eyes glazed over, "I... I died. I died and it felt so _real_. I died and he- he killed me!"

"Who? Who killed you Tommy?" Wilbur asked, starting to look nervous.

"Dreams don't last years do they?" the boy didn't answer his question, bringing his hands up to grip his hair, "I swear I- It was too long to be a dream! What day is it today?" he asked desperately, "It's not..."

"What day do _you_ think it is, Tommy?" Fundy asked.

"I- November... November 16th... What's going on?"

The entire group became silent, the only sound being the rush of wind through oak tree branches.

"Tommy... what's the last thing you remember?"

He thought about it for a moment.

"We were fighting for our land back. We were taking L'manberg back," he spoke carefully, sure to not give away too much for fear of sounding out of his mind, "Either we won that day or we lost everything. I- We- we won but we still-"

"Wait, fighting against Dream?" Tubbo asked, trying to keep up with Tommy's pace.

"No... it was someone else... I mean, we were fighting Dream, sure, but he wasn't out main target. He was just a body guard. It was a coup d'état against the president... the president of Manberg."

Fundy raised an eyebrow, "You mean L'manberg?"

"No," Tommy snapped, "It hasn't been L'manberg for a long time. It stopped being L'manberg when we-" he stopped himself.

"When we what?" Wilbur placed his hands on Tommy's shoulders, forcing the boy to look at him, "What happened, Tommy? What do you know?"

"I-..." he breathed deeply, preparing himself to drop the bomb on his allies, "I think... I think I'm from the future."

. . .

"You what?!" Fundy exclaimed, mouth held agape.

"The future?" Tubbo said curiously, like he was testing how the words felt on his tongue. Eret simply stared at him with widening eyes.

"I... is this a second chance? I can fix everything!" with new found excitement, Tommy stood from the floor, Wilbur following quickly from behind him.

"Tommy- Tommy! Wait a second, what do you need to fix? How bad is it, the future?"

The boy turned back to look at his president. He seemed so much healthier, the bags under his eyes were only as big as the rest of the group's, his eyes glowed with a fiery determination that had long since been replaced with a raging, destructive inferno of suffering. His hair wasn't greasy, his hands were steady and strong, his voice was no longer plagued by a horrid waver of insanity.

"Bad... really really bad."

"How can we know you're telling the truth?" Eret asked carefully, more out of curiosity than disbelief. Tommy stared dead into the man's soul, unwavering and unblinking.

"... King Eret."

That was all he needed to say for the man's eyes to widen behind his sunglasses and his mouth to drop open. At any other time, Tommy would have felt smug, but not right now. It gave him a sense of time. This was before L'manberg had been blown up by Dream's TNT, but after Eret had made his deal. The others looked between them, confused.

"Can you at least tell us what happened? You... you were screaming really loudly, Tommy," Wilbur reached a hand towards him before pulling back slightly.

"... I died by fireworks," his gaze lingered on Tubbo for a moment too long.

"How do you die by fireworks?" Fundy asked with an incredulous tone.

"Oh, you'll know..." he thought back to the festival, watching his brother turn and shoot at innocent civilians, screaming a loud maniac laugh. So many were killed in the crossfire, maybe not Fundy himself, who managed to dodge the fireworks just in time, but half of the attendees were slaughtered mercilessly, "But not if I have anything to say about it."

The rest of the group grimaced at the implications, but Tommy was already moving, back into the caravan, where he rummaged through his chest of things, everything laid out exactly like he remembered it.

"What are we going to do now?" Tubbo held his fist to his heart. 

The blond turned around, enchanted bow held tightly in his grasp, burning and glowing. He grinned.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to speed run a rebellion."

)()()(

Dream was not expecting this.

Here was his enemy, right in front of him, wearing no armour, waving a bow in his hands and screaming about a duel. George stared down at him with confusion in his eyes. Sapnap grimaced by his side, "Is he insane?"

"Probably," George shot back.

Dream didn't know.

He climbed down from his tower, meeting to teenager at the bottom. He was expecting him to have a smug look on his face, a grin of arrogance as he demanded a duel to the death, winner takes all, but instead, Tommy's lips were pressed into a line, his expression was blank, hollow eyes trained on the goal. Something had happened since they'd last seen each other, but Dream couldn't think for the life of him what.

"You, me, the boardwalk, sunset tonight. One hit. One hit and either you take my disc or we take L'manberg."

Straight to the point, no jeers or comments, no promises of victory. What the fuck happened?

Sapnap was by his side not a moment later with George not far behind, closely followed by Punz, "Oh? And how can we trust that you'll play fairly?"

"It's a duel of honour, Sapnap. I won't play foul."

"So that's it? You're willing to give up one of your most prized possessions for a duel?"

"If all goes well, I won't have to give it away."

"Which one would I get?"

"Mellohi."

Dream nodded, bringing his thumb up to his chin. He was expecting to get a bit more action out of this little rebellion first. Eret said he'd built a secret chamber that he could use to lure the rebellion into and crush it from inside, so maybe, he'd try that first.

"I would, but I haven't had my fun yet. You see-"

"I know about Eret."

The man's blood froze and he felt his allies tense up by his sides. How? How did he know? His eyes narrowed from under his mask, the smiling face betraying nothing.

"I don't know what you mean," Dream insisted.

Tommy's face remained emotionless. He wasn't even trying to brag, "I just want this to be over Dream. I'm so fucking tired of this. Let's just end it tonight, one vs one. Man vs Man."

This wasn't the same TommyInnit that Dream had fought against days before. This was a completely different boy, who's eyes were empty of the burning passion he'd one fanned so diligently, leaving just a tired, child soldier. The boy held his hand out to his opponent, eyes never leaving him, and Dream hesitated for a moment. Something was really, really wrong.

They're hands clasped together.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Tommy nodded, before turning back to where he came, not even sparing the group a second glance as he left.

What the fuck was going on?

)()()(

"Not a-fucking-gain," Tommy choked with a grimace, feeling the blood gushing from the arrow wound to his chest. It had struck him straight between his ribs, just like last time. This would be one of his three lives lost. He couldn't afford to take anymore risks.

Someone was yelling, there was a figure crouched down next to him, calling his name. He hissed when someone touched the arrow wound, the person proceeding to try and save him by treating the hole in his chest. He knew it was pointless. He'd died enough times to know that this was a complete lost cause; they'd only be wasting their items. 

Eventually, he felt the pull of death dragging him under murky water, emptying his lungs and closing his eyes as it pulled him away.

He woke up mere moments later, back in the caravan, and immediately went to plan B. The discs had worked last time, there was no reason that Dream would say no. They'd fought wars over these discs, they were worth so much more than anyone could even imagine.

He broke into a sprint, adjusting the strap of his uniform as he bolted back to the boardwalk, where he could already hear people cheering and shouting. As he clambered over the hill, he saw Fundy and Wilbur on the planks, presumably where he'd died, staring daggers at the enemy, who were celebrating their victory. Tubbo was sobbing.

"DREAM!"

The attention was immediately right on the boy as he nearly tripped over himself trying to get down to their level.

"Dream. We need to talk."

"Okay?" the man raised an unseen eyebrow, "What's this about now?"

"We need to talk," he repeated with finality, nodding behind him as an indication to take a walk, "I have something I think you'd want to hear."

The man turned to his allies, who shrugged their shoulders, then back to the boy in front of him. With hesitancy, he followed along behind him, Tommy all but speed walking into the foliage. They managed to get a decent distance away, neither of them speaking a word, and it looked Tommy didn't plan to, so Dream broke the silence.

"I seems like I won."

"I seems so."

"You know wha-"

Before Dream could stop speaking, Tommy turned around, both discs in hand and a determined expression, "Both discs for L'manberg's independence."

"Wh- what?"

"I give you both discs and you leave us alone. Deal?"

"I- Tommy what... both of them?"

"Yes Dream. Both of them. Let's just get this war over with and move on with our lives."

Tommy could see the hesitance in the man's posture, his hand was hovering in mid air, his chest rising slowly and deeply, as if trying to keep it under strict control. 

"Deal," Tommy was just about to force the discs into the man's hand, but Dream pulled back, "- _On..._ one condition."

"What is it?"

"Tell me what happened."

It was Tommy's turn to look confused, brows furrowing. He felt sweat trickle down the back of his neck, "What do you mean?"

"Two days ago, you were running around, frolicking in the flowers and screaming about revolution, but today you've been nothing but just... just _apathetic_. What happened? I haven't seen anything on the comms and I-"

"Don't pretend to care," Tommy snapped, the other man's eyes widening at the venom laced within the words, "I know what you want. You don't want land or resources or even these stupid discs. You want power. You want control and you want chaos. I've learnt that lesson. You wanna know what happened? I learnt that I can't trust anybody, except maybe Tubbo, because all anyone will _ever_ want is chaos. 'Cause chaos wins, right?" 

The boy took a measured step forward, eyeing Dream and looking deep into his very soul.

"You wanna know what happened, Dream? I died. I died three, meaningful deaths and, in that moment where I thought I could finally find peace, do you know what life did? It sent me back. It gave me a chance to fix my mistakes and that's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to fix everything because if I have to see L'manberg fall one more time I-"

"Tommy... you're- what are you saying? You're from the future? You died three times?"

"I should have died twice by now, but I've already prevented one. That duel? That was one of my lives gone. I'm onto two now."

"How... how did you die before?" Dream asked carefully.

"Final control room, that was Eret's betrayal, the duel we had just now and... Technoblade," the other man didn't ignore how Tommy seemed to shiver at the name, grimacing at an unknown image.

"Technoblade? Your brother? When does he join?!" Dream tilts his head in confusion.

"A lot happens in the future, stuff that I want to prevent. I need you to promise me something, Dream. I need you to promise that you will _never_ whitelist JSchlatt on this server."

"JSchlatt? What about him?"

"A lot of things," the boy grimaced, "Him joining causes a chain of events to occur which ultimately ends with... _so_ much bloodshed. Two permanent deaths."

"What? What happened? Who was the other one?" Dream demanded, taking a step forward.

"Me and Wil," Tommy's eyes looked dull, "I- Schlatt ruins him, just fucking ruins him."

"Tommy..."

"If I have to watch my entire family get torn apart again, I don't think I'll be able to fucking take it!" he growls, turning on his heel away from his enemy, "I don't want to see any of it happen again because that man- that man was NOT my president. That wasn't Wil..."

"I won't whitelist him," Dream puts his hands up, like he was soothing a rabid animal, "I'll even blacklist him if it makes you feel any better."

"I- I think I'd like that," Tommy smiles but it's small, "And- and don't invite Techno either."

"Why no- Oh... right."

"Yeah..."

They stood in silence for a few moments.

"Why... why did he kill you? He's your brother, right?" Dream asked.

"... not anymore, Dream..."

"Just please tell me what happened. I won't judge you. I'll believe you, I promise."

"And you won't tell anyone?"

"I promise."

Tommy looked at him with a calculating gaze that was far too old for him.

"We... we held an election, in L'manberg. The people wanted democracy. Schlatt ended up winning through a collision government with a party called SWAG2020, Quackity and George. His first decree as president was to revoke me and Wil's citizenships. We were exiled from our own country."

Dream seemed like he was going to cut in, but he held his tongue.

"Techno joined the rebellion. It was just the three of us in this stupid fucking ravine we called Pogtopia. We... we didn' have anyone else. Tubbo was a spy on the inside, we thought Fundy'd betrayed us, turns out that was a lie, Eret... Eret stopped being part of L'manberg a long time ago. Niki was stuck in Manberg, that's what Schlatt changed the name to, and was forced to live under a dictator who taxed her double the normal rate."

Dream grimaced, "Yikes..."

"We fought a few battles, you joined our cause, actually, for a little while... then the festival happened."

Tommy began to pace anxiously, spewing his guts to the closest person.

"The Manberg festival was the public execution of a traitor disguised as a happy little celebration. Schlatt somehow found out that Tubbo was a traitor and made him decorate his own fucking funeral. He made Techno execute Tubbo right on the podium, in front of everyone."

"What? But didn't you say Techno was on your side?" Dream asked in shock.

"I don't know! He said something about peer pressure and blew up the entire fucking stage. Schlatt and Quackity died in the crossfire... we called it the red festival. The pavements were covered in blood. It was a massacre."

"And Wilbur just let him do that?"

"..." 

Tommy looked up at Dream, biting his lip and furrowing his brows.

"Wilbur stopped caring a long time ago. He fucking lost it he-" he choked on his breath with a huff of bitter laughter, "He wanted to blow it all up. Everything. Said if he couldn't have it, no one could. He was supposed to blow it up at the festival."

"Wilbur? No, Wil wouldn't do that-"

"Maybe not your Wilbur. Not your Wilbur, but definitely mine."

_("I say if we can't have Manberg, NO ONE!" the man thumped his fist against the stone wall of the ravine, an insane gleam in his eye. Tommy flinched away, "NO ONE CAN HAVE MANBERG!!")_

"The festival ended in bloodshed," Tommy continued, "We recuperated back at Pogtopia, now with Tubbo and Niki by our sides. We later got Quackity to join us too. Me and big Q had to stop Wilbur from blowing up Manberg at one point... then Fundy joined our cause, you betrayed us not long after."

Dream tensed, feeling his hands grip into fists.

"You joined Schlatt's side and on the 16th of November we went to war. We won. Schlatt died. Tubbo was elected as new president..." Tommy hesitated, "Then Techno assassinated him."

"Again?"

"Yeah again. Went on a huge rant about how government was the real problem and how power corrupts and we were only replacing one tyrant with another. Then it was basically open fire..."

The woods was silent and dark, the sun had long since set over the horizon.

"Tommy?"

"That's when I realised that Wilbur was gone... you told us that he was a traitor."

"... he didn't-"

"I lost everything that day," Tommy grit his teeth, "He snuck away and pressed the button, blew up L'manberg. It was... it was all gone, Dream. Everything I'd worked and died for and it was gone... and worst of all, Wilbur- we lost Wilbur."

"In the explosion?"

"By Philza's hands."

"What?" the man blinked, "Phil? When did he get there?"

"During the chaos. Tried to talk him down. It didn't work."

The two stared at each other.

"I never got to say goodbye to Tubbo..."

"You won't need to," Dream stated, walking forward and placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Not if I have anything to say about it."

"...how do I know you're not just saying this? You betrayed me last time."

For a moment Tommy thought he'd said the wrong thing, as Dream's shoulder's tensed, but he felt a hand grip his wrist and start to pull him along, back to the board walk, emerging from the woods where the others still stood idly, waiting for the two to return. The boy looked at Dream with confusion, as he called for the people's attention.

"Everyone!"

Many pairs of eyes set themselves on the duo, curious and waiting with baited breaths.

"I now pronounce L'manberg as an independent nation!"

Tommy looked at his enemy in shock, hearing cries of pure joy and protest from the crowd.

"What?!" he heard Wilbur yell in the distance, echoed by many other shouts of confusion mixed in with ecstatic happiness that filled the night air, and Tommy couldn't help but agree.

"But... the discs-"

"Keep your discs," Dream stated with finality, "You deserve them more than me."

"But I lost the duel..."

"Do you _want_ me to take them?"

Tommy sputtered out a laugh, waving his hands frantically, "No! No, no, it's _fiine_ Dream, I can keep them, big man!"

Dream laughed right back at him, punching him in the shoulder lightly. Before Tommy could retaliate, he felt himself get tackled into a hug by a particularly emotional Tubbo, soon followed by Wilbur and Fundy, laughing as they fell into a pile on the floor. To the side, Tommy noticed that Eret stood awkwardly, but the boy simply invited him into the pile. The man's eyes widened before he chuckled, joining the group on the grass and wrapping his arms around them.

Tommy grinned until his cheeks ached, feeling the happiness pool in his chest.

Who ever said it was impossible to change the past?

**Author's Note:**

> In another world, in another time, one dead man returned as a ghost, his memories lost to time, but the other was never seen again. 
> 
> A father mourned the loss of his sons, grieving the time they had lost, guilty that he wasn't there to defend them.  
> A ghost wondered who the boy in his memories was, and why his heart ached when he saw blond hair.  
> A warrior stared at the broken body on the floor, distantly wondering why it wasn't turning to dust.  
> A president screamed until his throat went hoarse and began to bleed. Who was going to be his vice president now?


End file.
